One of the most popular posts since relaunch has been the Unboxing of the Mass Effect N7 Loot Crate, so when I saw that Loot Crate had introduced a Loot Gaming box, I thought about doing another couple of unboxing videos. After dropping about £75 for 3 subscription boxes, I received the first one over the weekend. Here is the video of the unboxing.
Overall, the t-shirt is the beauty of this box. I wore it to Play It! Manchester later that day and did drunkenly check myself out in the mirror wearing it, it’s that good. The scarf and socks are nice and well made if you’re a fan of the franchises. I’m very happy with the badges too as they seem like nice pieces, but the figurine I couldn’t really see a point to, which is a shame. So yes, the t-shirt I’d probably pay about £15 for, which I’d keep.
Also, according to the email received from Loot Crate, apparently there was also a BloodsportsTV game which, errr…wasn’t in the box from what I can see. Rubbish.
I’ve at least 2 more of these to do. Next month has seemingly franchises I don’t care much about (yes, I never got into Fallout 4 or Resident Evil, which is a big thing from next month’s box), so maybe the final one after that may be a lot more positive. Who knows? Be sure to like the video and subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you will find out about them first!
Own Part of the Crate!
From the crate, I’ve put the following things on eBay:-
So recently (and actually when I write this, due to the fact I’m wanting to write something as it’s fresh in my head) I went to New Orleans for a visit. I’ve always want to go to The Big Easy after a friend of mine waxed lyrical on how brilliant it was, and hearing great things about the place I’ve always wanted to go. With Wrestlemania in Dallas, I decided to head out a few days earlier to go to New Lorleans for a much-deserved break.
I arrived at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Hotel after arriving on an Uber. The driver, Nicky was wonderful, but unfortunately it seems like Uber is crippled in New Orleans due to minimum fares from the airport that is twice as much as normal fares. So try to avoid using Uber from the airport, and arrive carrying cash so you can get at a taxi. The hotel was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, a huge behemoth of a building spread over 30 floors, with an element of luxury, I was reminded that the main tower seemed almost Citadel-from-Mass-Effect-ish.
After a quick change, I headed out to the famous street in New Orleans, Bourbon Street. I wasn’t sure what to expect as generally speaking the United States isn’t known for it’s drinking culture, this was a lot different, and absolutely crazy because of it. Bourbon Street is a hive of jazz music, debauchery and cocktails in rude shaped glasses.
There is so much here it’s an assault on the senses, so after some food (a fairly substandard Chicken Jambalaya), and checking out a few bars I found a great little bar for a bit – Ticklers Piano Bar. This bar featured some dueling pianos which was a great form of entertainment.
Bourbon Street was fascinating to see, but I think I was just a little too old for it. So heading home I found Hobnobber’s Variety Bar and Restaurant that became a home from home in New Orleans. It had a range of craft beers that were brilliant, my personal favourite was the 7th Street Wheat Lemon & Basil Beer. I’m not a fan of wheat beers nor flavoured beers, but this was absolutely delicious and eventually became my craft beer of choice. Plus it was $3 cheaper than the artificial shite on Bourbon Street. Thanks to the staff there, I was pointed in the correct places to go during my stay in New Orleans, and invited to their Easter celebrations.
After a fairly good sleep, I woke with the sad news that today was going to rain. Nevertheless, I headed out and had a pretty decent breakfast in Daisy Dukes (a Veggie Omelette, if you must know), before – joy of wonderous joys – the heavens opened. This kinda put me back an hour or two, as I missed one of the three Easter Parades that were happening that day on Bourbon Street. So after a while of standing under some shelter in borderline monsoon conditions, I dived into a shop for some souvenir shopping.
After a while, the rain stopped, so I set off to explore the French quarter a little bit more. It was Easter Sunday, so at the cathedral there was mass. After a leisurely stroll along the Mississippi, I checked out the Chris Owens parade, the second parade of that day.
The parade was superb! Lots of colourful floats and the participants were throwing beads and other keepsakes from all the floats, all with live music. Thankfully the rain had stopped so a lot of the expensive dresses and suits weren’t ruined.
I rested for a bit and then returned to Hobnobber for an evening of (free) food and (paid for) drinks. As everybody was bringing something I did bring some crisps, and it was here where I had a mish mash of Southern Easter Cuisine of BBQ Shrimp, Ham & Sweet Potato Casserole (which was delicious and I’m definitely cooking that at home!) and Apple Pie. After an enjoyable evening putting the world to rights, I said goodbye to my new found friends at Hobnobbers, and left.
The final day was spent walking through the Garden District. I had a gorgeous lunch at Joey K’s. It was a simple Shrimp Poboy, with a side of french fries. Simple, delicious, and very filling.
The evening was spent at the Smoothie King Centre which was beside the hotel to watch New Orleans Pelicans vs. New York Knicks. Now I had seen NBA Basketball before (though I was introduced to the sport – like most Brits who grew up in the 1990s – in the game NBA Jam), and I cannot say I enjoyed it that much. It was a preseason game and I ended up paying £50 for a ticket that they were giving away for free the day before the event. Although it was seen as something important for Manchester, I couldn’t help feel most people didn’t want to be there, including the players (Oklahoma City vs. Philadelphia).
Thankfully, this game was much better. I am not sure why, maybe it was there seemed to be a lot more to do before and during the game, maybe it was because I was surrounded by people who were invested in the game, maybe it was simply that the tickets were cheaper. In short, it was a good fun evening, and as I wanted to avoid drinking, it was a good way to do something fun and stay sober.
All in all, I think the one thing I’d take away from my time in New Orleans is the hospitality. Everybody was really friendly and to be invited to an Easter feast with a bunch of strangers was an absolute treat that made my visit there. That wasn’t unique, as from the taxi ride there to the taxi ride back everybody was so incredibly friendly, and I’d love to go back again.
Other Thoughts
Rather disappointingly, outside of the Hotel, Hobnobbers and the Smoothie King Centre, I couldn’t find WiFi anywhere. I’m assuming chains generally do as well.
I had a bit of time over my Birthday Weekend (I turned 32 last week), so I thought I’d do a quick Rocket League review, probably one of my favourite games at the moment.
In short, Rocket League is a great game, and worth checking out if you’re an Xbox Live subscriber (or indeed on the PC or PS4), I’d recommend get this. It’s a great game to pass time with and you can easily play for 30 minutes or 2 or 3 hours. Online play really is where it’s at, as although there are some modes that you can play offline, it doesn’t have the same competitiveness as playing against your fellow human. As such, if you don’t play online, I’d probably skip this game. However, if you have Xbox Live, then this is a great game to add to your collection.
To find out more about Rocket League, be sure to check out their official site. You can get the game on Xbox One, or on PC via Steam.
Before Christmas, I bought Mass Effect’s N7 Day Loot Crate, which was a special crate full of Mass Effect themed goodies. Mass Effect is one of my favourite franchises out there, so I snapped at the chance to buy it.
As a way to try and introduce some different content to the site, I thought about doing an unboxing video. So – a few months late – here is the video of the unboxing of the N7 Day Loot Crate.
Other Thoughts (Not Shared On The Video)
Whilst I’m happy with what I got, I do think that the crate focussed too much on the N7 Logo and less on the entire universe. I’d have liked to see something for some of the characters like Liara, Garrus, Tali or Grunt. The only race that was represented was the fairly minor race of Volus. So that was slightly disappointing.
I still haven’t read the comic either, but it’s on my “to-read” list!
Own Part of the Crate!
From the crate, I’ve put the following things on eBay:-
So an interesting post appeared on Matt Mullenweg’s blog recently describing how they will change up the Testimonials Page by having blog posts under the #ilovewp hashtag. As somebody with some measure of standing in the community (other people’s words, honest!), I’d thought I’d put out a blog post.
Now I could talk about the boring stuff, the fact that it found me a career that I love, and I’m paid pretty well to build things in WordPress all day, but I feel that could be repeating people.
What WordPress looked like when I started using it in 2006.
I could talk about the good that the project does in democratising publishing and giving people a voice. However there are people far more qualified to do that.
Instead I’ll talk (rather selfishly) in the non-career impact it has had on my life, as it has been a cornerstone in helping pursue my passions.
None more so that one of my main blogs – Retro Garden.
I’m a big classic gamer, most of the time on my Twitch Channel I’m playing some obscure game from the mid 90’s, so when I thought about starting a blog that focussed on one of my interests, that seems the most obvious to start with.
Through Retro Garden, I ended up networking with a few people and companies. I ended up getting a lot of free games to review (which was nice), but one such chat with somebody who is now a really good friend ended up changing my life forever.
This chap shared a love for professional wrestling that I did. Though unlike me he also was at the time an active wrestler. He was starting a promotion (which evolved into Britannia Wrestling), and needed a site. In return, I’d be given free entry to shows.
Of course, I accepted, and built the site in WordPress. Furthermore, over time, I went from being a face in the crowd, to helping out backstage, to being a referee, to being a manager and occasional wrestler.
Me refereeing a match between Bubblegum & Kris Travis – two of the best wrestlers in the UK in the last 10 years.
I did knock it on the head after 5 years as work and other commitments made it difficult to continue, but I’ve so many happy times and experiences from those 5 years that it was worth all the early starts and late finishes. So much so that one of my other sites I write because I’m keen to try and get behind the curtain again. And that site is built on WordPress.
I’m not saying that WordPress is singularly responsible to all the above, but it makes it so easy to achieve so much. And that is why #ilovewp.
